Page 37 of Kiss the Girl
“You too,” Paige said, stepping back.
“Unc says you’ll teach me to build,” Evie announced.
“That’s not exactly what I said,” I hurried to explain. I crouched to meet Evie’s eyes. “Remember, I said she’s going to help the football team build something, and you and I are going to supervise.”
“No building?” Evie asked, her face falling.
“Of course building,” Grace said. “My dad taught me to build when I was your age. Want to build something right now?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Paige told her.
Grace smiled. “I grew up working in this store, and when I was a teenager, my dad had me running Builder Buddy workshops for kids on Tuesday mornings during the summer. I have the perfect project for you guys, if you want.”
“If you’re sure it’s no trouble,” Paige said, smiling.
“I’m sure. Evie, do we want to hammer stuff or glue stuff?”
“Hammer!” she shouted.
I winced, but Grace only grinned. “My kind of girl. Follow me.”
She led us to the lumber section. “First, we’re going to need some wood.” She grabbed a sheet of plywood and set it on a table with a locked table saw, pulled the pencil from behind her ear, and dug a measuring tape from her toolbelt. It was sexy as hell.
“First rule of construction, Evie: measure twice, cut once.”
“What’s that mean?” Evie asked.
“It’ll make sense when you’re eight,” Grace promised.
I hid a smile at the easy way Grace answered her. Paige looked utterly charmed. I got it. Grace did that to me too.
“I’m making the measurements for a box, then I’ll cut it up, and it’s going to be your job to hammer it. Think you can handle that?”
“Yeah!” shouted Evie.
“All right, then. Here we go.” If I thought the toolbelt was sexy, it was nothing compared to when Grace unlocked the table saw and fired it up, feeding the plywood through its teeth in deft turns while Evie held her hands over her ears to block the noise.
Paige glanced over at me and mimed wiping away slobber. I snapped my jaw shut and reminded myself that Grace was my friend and I shouldn’t be panting after her in the lumber aisle of her father’s store.
Paige looked like she was trying not to laugh.
A minute later, Grace cut off the saw and relocked it, handing Evie several pieces of wood. “Can you help me carry these to your workbench?”
Evie clutched the wood to her chest and trotted after Grace, who headed toward the back of the store. Paige hung back long enough to say, “I love her,” out of the side of her mouth.
“Move it,” I said, nudging her ahead of me.
Grace stopped at a door marked “Employees Only” at the back of the store. “Wait here a minute, okay? It’s tricky to get around back there right now, but I’ll be back with the tools you need.”
Evie nodded. “Okay, Toodles.”
“Her name is Grace,” I reminded her.
“I don’t mind,” Grace said. “It’ll take me a minute to find what I’m looking for, but I think I know where it is.”
“Sounds good.”
“Sounds amazing, is more like it,” Paige said when Grace disappeared through the swinging door. “Is she for real?”
